Passive House

Passive House originated in Germany more than 25 years ago, but the concept is even older. In fact, one of the first houses to employ many principles of the PH standard was built in Saskatchewan in the 1970s.

The most commonly cited benefit of a Passive House is a drastic reduction in energy needed for heating, such the house may omit a conventional 'active' heat source, using only 'passive' heat sources such as the windows and 'internal heat gains' from appliances and people.

The primary goal of energy reduction has several appealing side benefits: Passive Houses are very comfortable, are generally of a higher quality than conventional buildings, save money in the long run due to lower energy use, and do their part to contribute to a sustainable future.

At MIZA, we consider Passive House the leading low-energy building standard, and a natural, attainable step toward Net Zero buildings, Living Buildings, and ultimately net-positive, carbon-neutral, energy-independent architecture.

We designed one of the first Passive Houses in Alberta, and were so pleased with the results that we decided to make it one of MIZA's core services.

3. High-performance windows and doors
Windows alone can represent 50% of a building’s total heat loss. Passive Houses use high-insulating windows that also allow solar heat gain to warm the house passively. Argon-filled triple-glazed windows with insulated frames are a necessity to meet the standard in Canada.

4. Airtightness
A Passive House is 4-5 times more airtight than typical construction. The standard requires 0.6 air changes per hour (ACH) or less to minimize heat loss from air infiltration and prevent moisture damage.

5. Ventilation and heat recovery
For a long time, houses relied on a 'leaky' building envelope to provide ventilation to occupants. In a Passive House, a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) provides a constant source of fresh air to the home while recovering heat from the exhaust air, again offsetting energy demands for heating.